Disposable bed pan

ABSTRACT

A SINGLE USE DISPOSABLE BED PAN COMMERCIALLY SUPPLIABLE AS A COMPACT PACKAGE AND COMPRISING A THIN FLEXIBLE SHEET-LIKE BASE MEMBER HAVING A LOWER SURFACE ADAPTED TO BE HORIZONTALLY POSITIONED UPON THE BED LINENS, TOGETHER WITH A FLUID INFLATABLE ANNULAR TUBE SUPERIMPOSED UPON AND ANNULARLY ATTACHED TO THE BASE MEMBER WHEREBY THE INFLATED TUBE CENTRAL OPENING PROVIDES A RECEPTACLE FOR BODY WASTES. THE ENTIRE BED PAN AND COLLECTED WASTES ARE WHOLLY CONVENIENTLY DISPOSABLE IN A SACK-LIKE FORM THROUGH WATER SEWER SYSTEMS, INCINERATION, CHEMICAL TREATMENT TANKS, OR THE LIKE.

Sept. 20, 1971 5005 EI'AL DISPOSABLE BED PAN 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June1, 1970 INVIZNTORS BY ZI )2 L;

MERTO/V E ODE/V 8 JOHN J. FORM/IN ATTORNEY Sept. 20, 1971 EN ETAL3,605,128

DISPOSABLE BED PAN Filed June 1, 1970 2 Sheets-Sheet 8 MERTON E ODE'N 8JOHN J. FORM/4N INVIZNTORS Y 5/ if K) (//Wu ATTORNEY United StatesPatent 3,605,128 DISPOSABLE BED PAN Merton E. Oden, 810 W. 11th St.,Wahoo, Nebr. 68066, and John J. Forman, 7723 Lafayette St., Omaha, Nebr.

Filed June 1, 1970, Set. N0. 42,282 Int. Cl. A61g 9/00 US. Cl. 4-113 16Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Bed pans have long been employed athospitals, nursing homes, and elsewhere, to collect body wastes frombedridden patients. Traditionally, bed pans are of rigid metallicstructure, and they must be washed and sterilized after each use, andparticularly for each patient. Such metallic pans are rigid anduncomfortable for the patient; too, they are so bulky that interimstorage presents a problem. Moreover, washing and sterilization betweeneach use requires the expenditure of costly labor. Accordingly, in viewof the cost factor, recent workers in the prior art have attempted toprovide labor saving bed pans.

Most labor saving bed pans simply comprise a liner for the traditionalmetallic bed pan, the object being to collect the body excrements in theliner and to dispose of the liner-encased excrements. However, suchliner type structures do not fully protect the underlying metallic panfrom accidental spillage of body excrements, and invariably the metallicpan must still be washed and sterilized. Moreover, such prior art linersdo not make the traditional bed pan any more comfortable to the patient.

More recently, re-usable inflatable bed pans have been developed,ostensibly for reasons of comfort, but they have proved to be quitecumbersome, and expensive to manufacture, to store, and to hygenicallymaintain. Apparently economical single use disposable bed pans have beendeveloped, but they have tended to be bulky and can be disposed of onlythrough noxious combustion techniques.

It is accordingly the general objective of the present 7 invention toprovide a bed pan that is exceedingly comfortable to use by bed-riddenpatients, that is suppliable in a very compact easily stored form, thatis of such economical construction that it can be used on a singleusebasis thereby avoiding costly washing and sterilizing costs, that offersunusual neat protection to bed linens, and that can be quickly andeconomically disposed of through several alternative disposal meansincluding through conventional sewer lines.

With the above and other objects and advantages in view, which willbecome more apparent as this description proceeds, the disposable bedpan of the present invention comprises a thin flexible sheet materialbase member having mutually parallel broad surfaces including an uppersurface and a lower surface superimposable upon the bed linens, bothsaid surfaces being circumscribed by a peripheral-boundary for the basemember, and further 'ice comprises a fluid inflatable annular tubecompletely surrounding a vertical-axis, the inflatable tube at lowerportions thereof being continuously annularly attached to the basemember whereby the centrally open portion of the inflated tube togetherwith the underlying annularly attached base member provide a receptaclefor body excrements, the base member entire peripheral-boundary beingdistantly spaced from the inflatable tube to allow the entireperipheral-boundary to be gathered together loftily above the definedreceptacle whereby the peripherally loftily gathered base memberprovides a compact sack-like casing for conveniently disposing ofcollected body excrements through conventional sewer systems, or byincineration, or the like.

In the drawing, wherein like characters refer to like parts in theseveral views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a representative embodiment of thedisposable bed pan of the present invention, wherein the annular tubeportion thereof is uninflated and collapsed upon the extensive basemember.

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the uninflated bed pan embodiment ofFIG. 1.

:FIG. 3 is a longitudinally extending right side elevational view of theFIG. 1 embodiment, the left side elevational view being substantially amirror image thereof.

FIG. 4 is a transversely extending front elevational view of the MG. 1embodiment, the rear elevational view being substantially a mirror imagethereof.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an exceedingly compact convenientlypre-packaged form of the FIG. 1 inflatable bed pan.

FIG. 6 is a sectional elevational detail view taken along lines 6-6 ofFIGS. 1, 2, and 8.

FIG. 7 is a perspective top view of the FIG. 1 embodiment, after theannular tube portion thereof has been fluid inflated, to provide areceptacle for body excrements.

FIG. 8 is a sectional elevational view take along line 88 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the FIG. 7 inflated form with theperipheral-boundary of the base member being loftily gathered togetherto provide a sack-like casing for the inflated tube and the collectedbody excrements.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view chronologically following FIG. 9, or FIG.12, with the tube deflated to provide a more compact sack-like casing.

FIG. 11 is a sectional elevational view of. gaseous fluid source whichmight be optionally employed with the FIG. 1 embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a detail sectional elevational view, similar to FIG. 8,showing an alternately positioned gas withdrawal means.

The representative disposable bed pan A generally comprises a thinflexible sheet material base member 10 (adapted to be horizontallysuperimposed upon a sleeping bed immediately below a supine patient)together with a fluid inflatable annular tube 20 completely surroundinga vertical axis V and defining a central opening 29 for the uninflatedtube 20'. The tubes lower annular surface is continuously annularlyattached to base member 10, as by a resinous adherent weld W, wherebythe tube inflated form 20A provides a receptacle 29A extendingvertically upwardly from those portions of the base member upper surface13 surrounded by inflated tube 20A. Tube inflation is preferablyaccomplished after the supine patient has positioned the buttocks withinthe central opening 29 of uninflated tube 20.

While the sheet material base member might take several geometricshapes, the base member 10* is preferably of rectangular shape andincludes a front-edge 15 in substantial parallelism to a rear edge 16,said peripheral edges and 16 each perpendicularly intersecting ahorizintal longitudinal-axis 11 for base member 10. There is a pair ofmutually parallel longitudinal-edges including a left-edge 17 and aright-edge 18, said peripheral edges 17 and 18 each perpendicularlyintersecting a transverse-axis 12 for base member 10. Thus, the fouredges 15-18 together provide a peripheral-boundary P for base member 10that completely surrounds a vertical-axis V (which perpendicularlyintersects both horizontal axes 11 and 12). Base member 10 has a pair ofbroad opposed parallel horizontal surfaces including a rectangular uppersurface 13 and a rectangular lower surface 14, the areal extent of bothsurfaces 13 and 14 being circumscribed by peripheral-boundary P.Preferably, base member 10 comprises a thin flexible resinous sheetmaterial (such as rubber, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polyvinylalcohol, etc.) having a uniform thickness within the range of abouteight to twenty thousandths inch, i.e. mils.

The fluid inflatable annular tube is herein identified as for thecollapsed uninflated form thereof and as 20A for the expanded inflatedform thereof. The said tube is provided of a flexible uniformlyrelatively thin resinous material that is impervious to the inflatingfluid. For ex ample, when air, oxygen, or other gaseous inflating fluidsare employed, resinous materials (such as polyvinylchloride,polyethylene, rubber, polyvinyl alcohol, etc.) having a thickness withina typical range of about eight to twenty mils might be utilized for theannular tube structural material. As is indicated in FIGS. 6-8, theinflated tube 20A contains pressurized fluid whereby the typicalcrosssection through 20A is of ring-like shape including an annularhorizontal bore 24 (as best seen in FIGS. 8 and 12). However, asindicated in FIGS. 1-6, the uninflated atmospheric-pressure form of tube20 is downwardly collapsed against base member 10. As best seen in FIG.6, the collapsed annulus comprises in vertical cross-section twohorizontal layers including an upper layer 21 superimposed upon andbroadly contacting the lower layer 22, said lower layer 22 beingsuperimposed directly upon the base member upper surface 13.

Lower portions of the annular inflatable tube are continuously annularlyattached to the base member 10, said attachment means completelysurrounding vertical axis V and being impervious to liquid and solidbody excrements collectable into receptacle 29A. Preferably, the annularattachment means comprises a resinous weld W, such as a heat-sealingweld, or separate adhesive, between the lower annular surface of tube 20and the base member at the upper surface 13 thereof; in this vein,chemical similarity between the resinous structural materials for tube20 and base member 10 is desirable.

In plan view, as seen in FIGS. 1, 2, and 7, the annular tube isdesirably of elliptical shape (having its major axis alonglongitudinal-axis 11 and having its minor axis along transverse-axis 12)whereby there is a front portion 25, a rear portion 26, a leftwardlateral side 27, and a rightward lateral side 28. Tube 20 isdimensionally constructed in vertical cross-section so that in theinflated form 20A thereof the diameter of bore 24 gradually in creasestoward tube rearward portion 26, as seen in FIG. 8. Tube 20 in verticalcross-section contour might include a rearwardly extending flap portion25A to act as a deflector for male urinal discharges.

Annular tube '20 includes at least one hose, e.g. 40, attached to tube20 (as by retainer washer 41) and extending into tube bore 24 to permitfluid inflation. Hose might be internally valved whereby sources ofcompressed air from a mechanical air compressor might be introduced intotube bore 24. Oftentimes, however, especially at smaller nursing homesand at private dwelling homes, mechanically compressed air sources areunavailable, and in such situations a finite packaged source ofhigh-pressure gas might be integrally attached to the inflatable tube.For example, as indicated in FIG. ll. a packaged gas source mightinclude a hollow flexible housing 51 having a pair of internal chambers52 and 53 separated by a frangible disc barrier 54. The respectivechambers contain chemicals which, when permitted to react, provide theinflating fluid for tube 20. For example, chamber 52 might containsodium peroxide (Na O while chamber 53 might contain water (H O). Thereis a relatively easily rupturable wall 55 disposed between chamber 53and the outward end of hose 40, hose 40 being attached to housing 50, asby mechanical threads or even by some permanent resinous or weldedconnection. Thus, the patients buttocks having been positioned intotubular opening 29, the attendant might manually squeeze flexiblehousing 51 to rupture barrier 54 whereby the chemicals react to providea vigorous source of oxygen gas which ruptures wall 55 and surgesthrough hose 40 into tube bore 24 to provide the inflated form 20Aincluding receptacle 29A. Alternately to chemical reaction type gassources, housing 51 might have a single compartment of highly compressedair, in which case wall 55 would be of the manually rupturable typesimilar to 54.

With the use of the aforesaid thin flexible base member '10 and theannular inflatable tube 20, especially with the flatly collapsible tubeindicated in FIGS. 1-4 and 6, the bed pan A can be marketed inexceedingly compact multilayer forms. For example, as indicated in FIG.5, the entire bed pan A can be folded in convolute fashion commencing ata lineal edge, e.g. 16, of the base member peripheral-boundary whereby arectangular bar-like form 20Y results. Alternately, the device A mightbe convolutely rolled to provide a cylindrical bar-like form (notshown). The easily storable compact convolute original package, e.g.20Y, might also include therein an integrally connected gas source, e.g.50, and might be maintained in convolute form with a removable girthstrap such as elastic-band 39. In the typical case where ten mil thickresinous sheet material is employed both for base member 10 and forinflatable tube 20 (about fifty inches circumference for annular weldW), the entire package 20Y would occupy on the order of about twentycubic inches.

The entire peripheral-boundary P, i.e. 15-18, of base member 10 isspaced a generous finite-distance from the inflatable tube 20 such thatthe circumference P is at least double the circumference of tube 20.There are two reasons for the relatively great areal extent for basemember 10. First, the base member 10 extending generously outwardly fromtube 20 provides a means for protecting bed linens from accidentallymisdirected body excrements. Secondly, after the patient has evacuatedinto receptacle 29A, the entire peripheral-boundary P can be gatheredtogether loftily above the collected excrements to provide the sack-likecasing form of FIG. 9 (secured as by elastic-band 39) for disposal ofthe said encased body excrements. For example, the FIG. 9 form can bedisposed through incineration or through an appropriate sewer system.

The FIG. 9 sack-like form is relatively voluminous because of thepresence of inflated tube 20A. However, deflation of tube 20A after thebody excrements have been collected into receptacle 29A provides themore compact sack-like form of FIG. 10. Accordingly, there are means toallow fluid to be slowly controllably withdrawn from the inflated tubebore 24 without allowing body excrements to escape from the receptacle29A. Cleanliness is ensured when fluid is withdrawn from tube bore 24after the sack-like form of FIG. 9 has been attained. In this vein, theattendant might insert a sharp pin 36 upwardly through base member 10into tube bore 24 (as indicated by arrow in FIG. 9). So as to ensureagainst puncturing pin 36 into receptable 29A, base member lower surface14 might have a visual mark, e.g. X-mark 35, in vertical registry withtube bore 24 and with tube-base weld W. Alternately, and more reliably,there is a hole, e.g. 32-33, through the tube 20 temporarily sealed,e.g. by tab 30. For example, there is a iverticalperforation 32 33extending downwardly from tube bore 24 through the tube bottom portionat 33, through the weld W, and through the base member at 32.Verticalpeiforation 32-33 is temporarily sealed with a tab-like sealer30 having an adhesive layer 31 firmly removably attached to base memberlower surface 14. Thus, as indicated in phantom line in FIG. 9, theattendant can manually remove to sealer 30 whereupon the annular tubebecomes deflated, resulting in the more compact sack-like form of FIG.having vertical-axis V(A). As indicated in FIG. 12, the tube hole as 34might be well above base 10. If hole 34 be of small diameter, thecompact sack form of FIG. 10 might be attained without the spillage ofcollected excrements, and thus by-passing the FIG. 9 form. With the FIG.12 alternate embodiment, a smaller circumference for peripheral-boundaryP will suflice and more compact multi-layer packages, e.g. FIG. 5, canbe attained.

Hygroscopic resinous substances are preferred for the structuralmaterials of bed pan A, whereby the entire sack-like structure of FIG. 9or 10 might be disposed of in a conventional water sewer system. Amonghygroscopic resinous materials are those plasticized with glycerine andsimilar polar substances. Polyvinyl alcohol and methyl cellulosestructural materials are highly hygroscopic and are water soluble, andcan be sewer disposed without the use of ancillary shredding apparatusin the sewer line.

Operational steps for the disposable bed pan A, which have already beenalluded to, can be summarized as follows. First, the pre-packaged form Yof FIG. 5 is unfolded to the FIG. 1 horizontal form. Next, the basemember lower surface 14 is superimposed upon the bed linens by theattendant. Then, the patient is positioned so that his rectal region isdisposed within that central area 29 encircled by uninflated tube 20.Next, the tube is fluid inflated to condition 20A (as by integrallyattached unit 50) whereupon the patients rectal region is located withinupright receptacle 29A and his lower back is slightly raised above basemember upper surface 13 by tube portion 26. After the patients bodywastes have been collected in receptacle 29A, the attendant gathers theentire peripheral-boundary P, e.g. 15-1 8,

loftily above receptacle 29A to provide the sack-like form of FIG. 9.Finally, the entire sack-like form of FIG. 9, or the more compactdeflated form of FIG. 10, is disposed of through incineration, in anappropriate hydrous sewer system, or in a chemical treatment tank.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the disposable bedpan will be readily understood and further explanation is believed to beunnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction shown and described, andaccordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resortedto, falling within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A disposable bed pan comprising:

(A) A substantially horizontal base member comprising a relatively thinflexible sheet material having a pair of broad opposed parallelhorizontal surfaces including an upper surface and a lower surface, theareal extent of each of said opposed surfaces being circumscribed by aperipheral-boundary for the base member;

(B) A substantially horizontally extending fluid inflatable annular tubecompletely surrounding a vertical axis, said inflatable annular tube atannular lower portions thereof being continuously attached to the basemember whereby the central 'vertical opening of the inflated tubeextending integrally upwardly from the horizontal base member provides areceptacle for body excrements, the peripheral-boundary of the basemember completely surrounding the attached tubular annulus and beingcontinuously separated outwardly therefrom by an extensivefinitedistance suflicient to allow the peripheral-boundary of theflexible base member to be gathered together above the receptacledefined by said inflated annular tube, whereby the said loftily gatheredbase member provides a sack-like casing for disposing of the collectedbody excrements.

2. The disposable bed pan of claim 1 wherein the inflatable tube at theannular lower surface thereof is continuously annularly adherentlyattached to the base member at the upper surface thereof; and whereinthe structural material of the tubular annulus is sufiiciently uniformly thin and flexible that in the uninflated atmosphericpressure formthereof the collapsed annulus comprises two horizontal layers includingan upper layer superimposed upon and physically contacting a lowerlayer, said horizontal lower layer being superimposed directly upon theupper broad surface of the base member.

3. The disposable bed pan of claim 2 wherein the base member sheetmaterial has a thickness within the range of about eight to twenty mils;and wherein the peripheralboundary of said base member is of rectangularshape including a front-edge disposed in substantial parallelism to arear-edge and including a pair of substantially parallellongitudinal-edges whereby said rectangular base member in thehorizontal form has a pair of mutually perpendicular horizontal axesincluding a longitudinal-axis located between and parallel to therespective longitudinal-edges and including a transverse-axis locatedbetween and parallel to the rear-edge and front-edge.

4. The disposable bed pan of claim 3 wherein both the annular tube andthe attached base member are provided in a compact multi-layer packagedform.

5. The disposable bed pan of claim 4 wherein the compact multi-layerpackage is of convolute form which is maintained by an elastic-bandsecurely removably surrounding the convolute form and in a plane normalto the convolutions, said elastic-band being thereafter employable tomaintain the gathered condition of the peripheral-boundary preparatoryto disposal of the body excrements contained in the vertical opening ofthe in fiated tubular annulus.

6. The disposable bed pan of claim 5 wherein the annular tube is gasinflatable; and wherein there are means to allow the gas to becontrollably slowly withdrawn from the inflated annular tube.

7. The disposable bed pan of claim 6 wherein the base member lowersurface includes a visual-mark in vertical registry with the annularbore of the inflatable tube and with a resinous adherent annular weldbetween the base member and the inflatable tube whereby a sharp pinmaking a vertical puncture through the visual-mark will allow gas to beslowly withdrawn from the inflated tube without allowing body excrementsto escape from the sack-like casing; and wherein a sharp pin isremovably attached to the elastic-band portion of the original package.

8. The disposable bed pan of claim 7 wherein the gasinflatable annulartube includes an outwardly extending hose stem together with a packagedsource of high pressure gas integrally attached to the hose.

9. The disposable bed pan of claim 1 wherein the gasinflatable annulartube includes an outwardly extending hose together with a packagedsource of high pressure gas integrally attached to the hose, saidpackaged gas source comprising two chambers separated by a frangible orbreakable wall, there being water in one chamber and Na O in the otherchamber whereby chemical reaction therebetween generates oxygen gas toinflate the tube.

10. The disposable bed pan of claim 1 wherein the resinous structuralmaterial of the base member and of the annular tube is a hygroscopicresinous plastic material.

11. The disposable bed pan of claim 10 wherein the resinous structuralmaterial is plasticized with a water soluble plasticizer.

12. The disposable bed pan of claim 11 wherein the resinous materialcomprises polyvinylalcohol.

13'. The disposable bed pan of claim 1 wherein there are means to allowgas to be controllably slowly withdrawn from the inflated tube withoutallowing body excrements to escape from the receptacle; and wherein boththe annular tube and the base member are provided in a compactmulti-year convolute packaged form.

14. The disposable bed pan of claim 13 wherein the gas withdrawal meanscomprises a hole in the tube wall, said hole being temporarily sealedwith a removable tablike sealer.

15. The disposable bed pan of claim 14 wherein the gas withdrawal meanscomprises a vertical-perforation extending downwardly from theinflatable tube annular bore through the base member including through aresinous weld at the base member, said vertical-perforation beingtemporarily sealed with a tab-like sealer operable from the base memberlower surface.

16. The disposable bed pan of claim 1 wherein the base member has arectangular peripheral-boundary ineluding a front-edge parallel to arear-edge and a pair References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,750,6006/1956 MacDonald 4-113 3,061,840 11/1962 Presseisen 4l13 3,418,66312/1968 Scott 4-113 3,513,488 5/1970 Oring et al 4-112 3,546,717 12/1970Kuhn 41l3 2O HENRY K. ARTIS, Primary Examiner

